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Genocide 100: France 24 To Provide Live Broadcast From Yerevan

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  • Genocide 100: France 24 To Provide Live Broadcast From Yerevan

    GENOCIDE 100: FRANCE 24 TO PROVIDE LIVE BROADCAST FROM YEREVAN

    12:33 | April 24,2015 | Politics

    France 24 TV channel online will organize regular live broadcasts
    from Yerevan where people are commemorating the massacre of up to
    1.5 million of Armenians by Ottoman Empire. The channel has posted an
    article on its website about the centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

    "Armenians worldwide will mark the centenary of an Ottoman massacre of
    up to 1.5 million of their people on Friday, as tensions over Turkey's
    refusal to recognise the killings as genocide reach boiling point,"
    France 24 said on its website.

    "In a procession to a hilltop memorial in the capital Yerevan,
    Armenians will carry candles and flowers to lay at an eternal flame,
    as members of the diaspora that fled as a result of the slaughter
    commemorate the sombre anniversary in cities thousands of miles away.

    "Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Francois
    Hollande are expected to be among a handful of leaders to travel to
    Armenia for the commemorations, but others are shying away for fear
    of upsetting Ankara.

    "In an unusual ceremony on Thursday, the Armenian Church conferred
    sainthood on those massacred by Ottoman forces a century ago, in what
    was believed to be the biggest canonisation service in history.

    "More than 20 nations -- including France and Russia -- have so far
    recognised the Armenian genocide, a definition supported by numerous
    historians.

    "German President Joachim Gauck was expected to draw an angry reaction
    from Turkey after he condemned the massacres as genocide for the first
    time, speaking at a religious service commemorating the bloodletting.

    "Gauck said the then German empire -- the Ottoman Turkey's ally in
    WWI -- bore "shared responsibility, possibly shared guilt for the
    genocide."

    "Germany deployed soldiers who took part in "planning and, in part,
    carrying out the deportations", he said.

    "Ankara on Wednesday recalled its ambassador to Vienna in response
    to Austrian lawmakers' decision to condemn the massacre as "genocide".

    "Turkey has said up to 500,000 were killed, but mostly due to war
    and starvation, and rejects the use of that term.

    "US President Barack Obama on Thursday would only go so far as to
    describe the World War I massacre as "terrible carnage".

    "- Mass canonisation of victims -

    "Commemorations expected to draw millions in Yerevan, Paris, Los
    Angeles and beyond will come a day after the canonisation service,
    which made saints of the the 1.5 million Armenians that historians
    believe to have perished.

    "The ceremony outside Armenia's main cathedral, Echmiadzin, close
    to Yerevan, ended at 7:15 pm local time, or 19:15 according to the
    24-hour clock (1515 GMT), to symbolise the year when the massacres
    started during World War I.

    "During the dire years of the genocide of the Armenians, millions
    of our people were uprooted and massacred in a premeditated manner,
    passed through fire and sword, tasted the bitter fruits of torture and
    sorrow," Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, said at the ceremony.

    "The canonisation of the martyrs of the genocide brings life-giving new
    breath, grace and blessing to our national and ecclesiastical life."

    - 'Reconciliation through recognition' -

    "Ex-Soviet Armenia and the huge Armenian diaspora worldwide have
    battled for decades to have the World War I massacres at the hands
    of the Ottoman forces between 1915 and 1917 recognised as a targeted
    genocide.

    "But modern Turkey, which was born of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire,
    has refused to do so, and relations remain frozen to this day.

    "Ankara says 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks
    died in civil -- rather than religious -- strife when Armenians rose
    up against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.

    "In a rare interview with Turkish television broadcast Thursday,
    Armenia's President Serzh Sarkisian expressed hope the two countries
    could mend fences.

    "It is obvious that a reconciliation between the two peoples will
    have to come about through Turkey recognising the genocide," he
    told CNN-Turk.

    "Ahead of the ceremonies, Turkey kicked up a diplomatic storm,
    condemning growing "racism" in Europe.

    "Earlier this month Ankara also recalled its envoy to the Vatican
    after Pope Francis described the killings as "the first genocide of
    the 20th century."

    "Turkey will on Friday host world leaders to mark the 100th anniversary
    of the start of the Battle of Gallipoli, a day earlier than the actual
    start of fighting.

    "Sarkisian has accused Ankara of deliberately "trying to divert world
    attention" from the Yerevan commemorations."

    http://en.a1plus.am/1210315.html

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